


the thing that I was

by sinequanon



Series: tiny bleach [2]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Memory Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-10-17 18:43:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10599918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinequanon/pseuds/sinequanon
Summary: In a strange twist of fate, Ichigo lost more than just his powers defeating Aizen. He's managed to deal fairly well with losing a chunk of his memory, but he's starting to get weirded out by all of the hugs.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is more lighthearted than most of my work, but I still like it, and I hope you will as well.
> 
> Happy reading!

The first time it happened, Ichigo nearly elbowed the big man in the eye. After all, what kind of person comes up behind someone and hugs them? Fortunately, he didn't, because although the pink-haired man looked pleasant enough, he was also huge and could probably take Ichigo out with one hand tied behind his back.

The man actually looked disappointed for a moment that Ichigo didn't recognize him, but apologized for startling him and introduced himself as Ushouda Hachigen before he quietly offered his assistance with anything Ichigo might need.

After a few awkward beats of silence, Ichigo had thanked the man and walked away, confused by the whole encounter. 

<> <>

“Ichi-nii, have you noticed that black cat that's been following us around?” Karin nodded toward the bushes where the cat in question had just disappeared. “At first I thought it was just a stray, but it didn't veer off when we passed that little boy that dropped his food; it kept following us. Do you think it's some kind of spirit or something?”

Ichigo sighed and shrugged. He had noticed the same cat earlier in the week. It had approached him twice and twined around his legs like it wanted affection, only to dart away when Ichigo tried to pet it.

“Well, if it wants something, it's doing a poor job of telling us. Maybe it's just really dumb?”

The cat started yowling in indignation to a man in a green and white hat shortly after that, but neither Kurosaki paid much attention.

<> <>

Ichigo wasn't sure what kind of person would randomly offer a child alcohol, but the long-suffering look on his friend's face suggested that this was normal behavior for the brunette.

Ichigo wasn't quite sure how he felt about that.

Honestly, he wasn't sure why he had sat so close to the two men at all, considering the number of open spaces in the park, but the pair of them had looked so hopeful when the teenager had turned in their direction that Ichigo would have felt horrible walking away from them.

Unlike most people these days, who treated him like he was broken just because of a little memory loss (and Ichigo was pretty sure that nothing particularly amazing had changed in his life in the past year, anyway), Kyouraku and Ukitake treated him normally and didn't seem to care if Ichigo didn't feel like making conversation.

It had been remarkably pleasant until Kyouraku had thrown his arm around Ichigo's shoulders and shoved a bottle into his face.

“Don't mind him,” Ukitake consoled, reaching over to pat Ichigo’s arm, “he really is much more responsible than he pretends to be.”

Kyouraku snorted. “It's true,” he agreed good-naturedly, squeezing Ichigo closer when the young man attempted to pull away. “Now tell us about your day.”

After taking a moment to wonder how he'd gotten into this situation, Ichigo did so, and by the end of afternoon, the teenager didn't even try to dodge Ukitake’s parting embrace.

<> <>

“Oi,” Ichigo said, eyeing the tattooed man carefully, “if you try to hug me, I'm going to kick you in the face.”

The man looked startled for a moment, as if surprised by Ichigo's reaction, before he scowled. “Why would I want to hug you, you strawberry?”

“How would I know? Why else would you come after me with your arms out like that?”

“Maybe I just walk that way!”

Ichigo scoffed. “Well, that's stupid.”

“Who are you calling stupid?” the man yelled, aiming a kick in Ichigo’s direction which was dodged and countered, leading to a lengthy (but surprisingly fun) brawl.

Ichigo enjoyed himself so much, in fact, that the orange-haired teenager pretended not to notice when the red-haired man briefly tightened his arms around Ichigo from where he had collapsed on top of him at the end of the fight.

<> <>

“Does anyone else think that our new teacher is strange?” Keigo asked the group at lunch. “It's weird, the way she keeps looking at Ichigo like she’s going to reach over and hug him to death. And what's up with that little brother of hers? If he frowns any harder, his face might get stuck that way.”

“Matsumoto-sensei does not want to hug me,” Ichigo sputtered, face flaming.

“She patted you on the head,” Keigo pointed out, “and she keeps staring at you like you're going to vanish at any second. Even her little brother watches you.”

Ichigo glanced at Mizuiro, who nodded. “It's pretty obvious. Maybe they're friends of your family, and your father asked them to watch out for you while you recover?”

The orange-headed boy barely kept himself from rolling his eyes at the suggestions that a) his dad had friends; and b) that Ichigo needed anyone to look out for him.

Besides, it wasn't like Matsumoto-sensei (or her white-haired brother) would be around for long; she was only a substitute, after all.

<> <>

This whole hugging, patting thing was making Ichigo more than a little twitchy. Five strangers had approached him over the past month, and the teenager didn't know what to do about it.

It wasn't that he’d sensed hostile intent from any of them--they were crazy, maybe, but not evil--but for someone who hadn't been hugged by anyone other than his sisters in years, the experience was disconcerting.

When he’d mentioned his parade of polite stalkers to his dad, the man had whined and cried about his son making new friends, but hadn't actually done anything about them.

What his dad _had_ done, however, was pull Ichigo into a crushing hug until the teenager thought he might pass out from lack of oxygen. Afterward, when Ichigo was still reeling from the unprecedented display of emotions, his dad looked him squarely in the eyes.

“No matter what,” he said solemnly, “always remember that you're my son, and I love you.”

Ichigo stared back, and wondered how many more people he'd have to hug before his memory came back.

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from William Shakespeare's _Henry IV, Part 2_.
> 
> For those of you who are waiting for the next fic in my series, I will post the first of three chapters next week, so I hope to see you then.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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